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Private clinics touted as health system cure
Medical service to charge patients $2,300 a year

A British Columbia entrepreneur opening three private family-practice clinics in Ontario touted the operations yesterday as a desperately needed cure for the ailing health care system, even though patients must spend $2,300 a year to take advantage of the Cadillac service.

Don Copeman admitted he was announcing plans for the clinics during the election -- and in a province whose government is dead set against private medicine -- to stir up debate on private health-care ventures.

Luring doctors with handsome salaries, the clinics to open this summer in three cities will offer fee-paying patients longer-than-usual appointments and a range of screening and preventive measures.

Services covered by medicare would be charged to the provincial health insurance system, with no extra charges.

The clinics, modelled on one launched in Vancouver last November, will provide the type of unhurried medicine that Canadians need and deserve, Mr. Copeman told a news conference.

"If the public system adopts models like this, pays physicians properly, has the right amount of time to care for patients, our system will fix itself eventually," he said. "It's not an elitist product. There are lots of Canadians who can afford that ... Our clients, they're not all wealthy people. They've just decided their health care is worth $200 a month."

George Smitherman, the province's Health Minister, promised to keep a close eye on the offices, but said it was too early to determine if they violated any law.

Mr. Smitherman said patients should not have to pay some sort of access fee to receive government-insured services.

"On a number of these points obviously we have some concerns," the Minister said.

"We are going to watch very, very closely as these plans unfold."

Michael Prue, an NDP member of the Ontario legislature, said the government should enact new legislation to shut down the clinics if they do not violate existing laws.